


Snowballs and Wet Slippers

by threewalls



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-08
Updated: 2010-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:36:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threewalls/pseuds/threewalls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><cite>Jade woke to the persistent thud of something hitting the exterior of the building. He took in the glowing time on his clock, and listened to the-- snowballs, he thought, noting how the projectile disintegrated softly after the thud of impact. After a further two thuds, Jade had become sufficiently awake to realise who it had to be outside. Saphir would have been knocking on his bedroom door.</cite></p>
            </blockquote>





	Snowballs and Wet Slippers

Jade woke to the persistent thud of something hitting the exterior of the building. He took in the glowing time on his clock, and listened to the-- snowballs, he thought, noting how the projectile disintegrated softly after the thud of impact. After a further two thuds, Jade had become sufficiently awake to realise who it had to be outside. Saphir would have been knocking on his bedroom door.

Jade got out of bed, folding the bedclothes back into place and picked up his dressing gown from where it was folded over the end of his bed. He opened the curtains to his bedroom window, and did not flinch when a snowball hit the glass in front of him. He waited to open the window itself until there was some shouting from below.

"My sister's room is across the hall," Jade said. In case this was a 'romantic' gesture gone awry.

"I know." Peony didn't look like someone who had just learnt of a mistake. He looked small and cold, and he was fidgeting, stepping from foot to foot, which couldn't have been pleasant to do in six inches of snow.

Peony said he was Jade's best friend. Jade's sister had told him more than once that best friends were something Jade couldn't understand, but Jade did not contradict Peony on this point, the way he did when Saphir said the same thing.

The unusually high snowfall, high even for Keterburg at this time of year, had closed down the snowy holiday town until the weather improved. Jade had not seen Peony for several days because of the snow. He found he was curiously not upset at Peony for waking him up in the middle of the night.

"J-Jade," Peony said, his stuttering voice carrying his chill shivering up to Jade's first floor window. "I couldn't sleep."

"You couldn't remember where the front door is, either?" Jade asked.

Peony shook his head, grinning. Jade pointed to the side, in the direction of the front door. After Peony started trudging round, Jade shut and locked his window, and pulled back the curtains into place. Carefully, he unlocked his bedroom door and tiptoed downstairs.

His Royal Highness Peony Upala Malkuth, as far as Jade understood the intricacies of the imperial succession, was only slightly more likely to succeed to the throne than Jade himself. But because of this, they all pretended his name was actually 'Klaus' where any adult could hear. Peony didn't live in a townhouse with his parents, but lived in a manor, surrounded by high fences, gates and guards, where they cared more about safeguarding the security of the building than of Peony specifically.

Outside the front door, Peony was shivering, his coat covered in the soft signs that snow was still falling. He smiled at Jade, though his teeth were chattering. Jade pulled Peony inside. Peony had a hat, but no gloves (his hands were cold and wet in Jade's hands, pink with renewed blood flow), and his slippers-- slippers, in six inches of snow-- were soaked through.

Jade carried the slippers upstairs and hid them in his closet. He hung up Peony's coat on the interior-side of his bedroom door. When he turned back, Peony had already got into bed, murmuring pleased murmurs about the warmth there still remaining.

In bed, Jade shifted his legs, negotiating Peony's to move into a more comfortable arrangement. He noticed that Peony's legs were bare, and stopped moving. Jade waited, eyes open in the dark, thinking. Peony burrowed close to Jade's warmth, arms around Jade, but not in the way Saphir might. Jade didn't feel uncomfortable, but Peony's legs were cold.

Jade asked Peony about it. Peony told him that the snow had soaked hems of his pyjama pants. Jade got out of bed, again, retrieving the wet garment to hang and a spare pair of pyjama pants from the drawer for Peony. He turned away while Peony dressed, because that was what one did.

They found the same comfortable arrangement of limbs more quickly, warmer limbs the second time. Peony's feet were still cold, but avoidable, and the bed grew warmed faster with two bodies rather with one.

"Can you sleep better like this?" Jade asked.

He waited for a response. And then, Peony snuffled, already chasing rappigs in his dreams.

Jade closed his eyes, and went back to sleep.


End file.
